Hi again! I hope everyone has had a nice couple of days. I have used the weekend to begin the Blue & Bear project which is going to be a needle book for Laurraine. We have been talking about doing a little swap for ages and finally I will begin to make her swap gift.

The design of this needle book is a bit different from the Tilda needle book I made last year. The first step in the process is therefore to cut a stencil in plastic. This makes it easier in case I want to make more needle books in the future. The next step in the process is to cut the fabric. This part I never look forward to. Not because it is boring (like many other crafters think), but because I always get a sneaky fear that I’m going to cut wrong and destroy the fabric. A crafter with anxiety of cutting fabrics is a bad combination. :-)

Last Tuesday Camilla, a friend from my student years, visited med. She hasn’t been here since right after we moved in to the apartment. Back then it was empty except for a bed (actually two camp-beds + a mattress pad) and four folding chairs from IKEA. We actually lived like that for two months. A couple of weeks ago Camilla phoned me and invited herself (completely perfect since I’m lousy at calling my friends) for a visit to see the apartment with furniture. As a house warming gift Camilla brought these fantastic branches of white cherries. I have been keeping track of them during this past week, studying how the sprigs have changed until today when they finally came into bloom.

On my way home from work last Thursday I had some Chicken Tikka Masala at one of the many cheap and good Indian and Pakistani places in Grønland (a part of town in Oslo). It was served with a salad and a tiny spot of green chutney. The chutney tasted so hot and good, that I couldn’t resist asking the waiter for a bit more to company what was left of the chicken. After a while he came back with a lidded container full to its brims with the delicious chutney, and explained that it was homemade with green chillies, onion, mint and tamarind. With the container stored safely at home in our fridge it was no surprise to my boyfriend that this would be the grand Chicken Tikka Masala Weekend.

I have been searching the net for recipes on green chilli chutneys that have the ingredients the waiter so kindly revealed, but no luck. Sy foloowing my gut feeling. And it turned out (if I might says so) pretty good. I'm satisfied.

On my recipe search, stumble upon videojug (a kind of youtube) where you can see how different recipes are made. What an awesome idea!

I finally finished my second baby quilt! I actually forgot to take a photo of it before I gave it away so you’ll have to manage with these “in progress” photos. It seems everyone around me is having a baby so I have already begun planning a third quilt.

After reading Green Olive Tree's blog I just had to pass by Sans & Sans to buy tea when I was in Barcelona. I bought some of the Rooibos tea she recommends and I cannot do anything but recommend it strongly. It tastes good and smells fantastic!

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Today I’ll share a gastronomic discovery that we’ve done when in Barcelona. It is no secret that I love everything about food; shopping groceries, reading cook books and recipes, cooking and of course eating delicious meals. Back in august when spending our summer vacation in Barcelona we passed by the restaurant 99.9 % origen(s) but it was full. We decided to make a new try on our next visit and this Christmas we did and succeeded at getting a table.

What makes this restaurant special is that it changes its menu with the seasons, and the kitchen mainly uses ingredients that are typical to each season. Their menu is like a magazine where you can read about the different ingredients and how and when they first were introduced in the Spanish and Catalan kitchen. History and gastronomy in one sitting; can it be better?

I’ll share what I ordered to let you get an idea about the place and why I'm in love with it. For starters I chose toasted bread slice with “almadroc”. The menu says that “The almadroc sauce comes from a medieval recipe and is done from grated cheese, garlic and boiled eggs (see photo). All the ingredients are chopped and mixed with olive oil. This recipe is found in the Sent Sovi book (s. XIV)”.

I ordered rabbit with sweet potato as a main dish. The menu says:” The ancient Romans raised rabbits and hares in the open. Rabbit meat is one of the healthiest due to its low fat content. In this recipe it is cooked with another autumn fruit, a tuber, the sweet potato is a protagonist of the All Saints Festival along with the chestnuts and the “panellets”.

And last but not least I had to have some dessert: Creamy Turron of Jijona (almond paste with whipped cream), with pieces of chocolate cake soaked with rum and crunchy chocolate biscuits.